Our View: Let Forbes know that Rockford is more than a set of stats

Tuesday

Feb 7, 2012 at 12:01 AMFeb 7, 2012 at 6:02 AM

If you believe Forbes magazine, Rockford has one of the best children’s museums in the country and not much else. We have a message for Forbes: We’re here. We’re not miserable, and there are a lot of great things in the community.

If you believe Forbes magazine, Rockford has one of the best children’s museums in the country and not much else.

We have a message for Forbes: We’re here. We’re not miserable, and there are a lot of great things in the community.

Forbes’ February edition ranks America’s Most Miserable Cities and Rockford comes in at No. 9.

Those of you who live in Belvidere, Loves Park, Machesney Park, Winnebago, Roscoe, etc., shouldn’t get too smug. The ranking is of the Rockford metropolitan statistical area, which includes everyone in Boone and Winnebago counties. That means you.

Does that make you feel miserable?

We were told we were miserable just a few days after Forbes ranked the Discovery Center as one of the top 12 children’s museums in the country.

Rockford is the regional center for the arts, culture, shopping, politics, health care and jobs, so what happens here reflects on the region as a whole.

Forbes looked at 10 factors, some serious: violent crime, unemployment rates, foreclosures, taxes (income and property), home prices and political corruption. Statistically Rockford doesn’t do well in those categories, and we probably all can agree that work needs to be done in those areas, but a community is more than a set of numbers.

Look at the cities ranked worse than Rockford: Miami, West Palm Beach, Fla., Sacramento, Calif. and Fort Lauderdale, Fla. It’s unlikely that anyone sitting on a Florida beach, toes in the sand, sipping a pina colada, thinks he or she is miserable.

Forbes dinged Rockford because “property tax rates were fifth highest in the country in 2010. The median tax bill was $3,234 on home values of $136,000 for a rate of 2.4 percent.”

The property tax burden is great, but that doesn’t take into account that you get more house for your money in Rockford than you can just about anywhere else.

Forbes also looked at commute times, weather and how the area’s pro sports teams did over the past three seasons.

Success on the field is one thing. Success in the stands is another. Stadium Journey, an online sports tourism publication, ranked the home of the Rockford IceHogs, the BMO Harris Bank Center, as the fifth best among 64 minor league hockey venues from across the nation.

Rockford never has done well in these rankings. Over the years Forbes, Money and others have not been very kind to the Forest City.

It would be nice if the editors of those publications would set aside the data, file the spreadsheets away and tour the cities they put on these lists.

We can take the Forbes folks to eat at any of the wonderful local restaurants and then commence a tour the Coronado Performing Arts Center, Anderson Gardens, the Nicholas Conservatory & Gardens, the Discovery Center, Burpee Museum of Natural History, the Laurent House, Klehm Arboretum, Tinker Swiss Cottage and any of the wonderful parks. There’s plenty more.

These lists do serve a good purpose. Many residents have dusted off their civic pride and vigorously defended the city they call home.

The most visible display is the sign on the side of The Olympic Tavern: “Money and Forbes are miserable magazines. We love Rockford.”

Take that, Forbes.

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